


Day #9: Chill

by Accal1a



Series: December Nickels Insanity [9]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, Sidewinder Series - Abigail Roux
Genre: Gen, Injury, Mentions of War, Mission Related, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-02 17:39:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16791619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a
Summary: Nick and Kelly survive a fraught night in the desert after Nick is injured on a mission.





	Day #9: Chill

"We're not going to make it to the rendezvous" Kelly said, hefting Nick's arm up further over his shoulder. 

"That's quitting ta..."

"No, Nick. This is me saying _we are not going to make it_ , you can barely walk."

“I can go quic..” Nick started before pulling his foot up from the floor again where he'd tried to put his full weight on it.

“No. You. Can't.” Kelly gritted out. “Will you stop being such a stubborn ass and listen to me?”

There was something in the way that Kelly said it that made Nick pause. It was exasperation tinged with worry. It was the same tone he always employed with stubborn marines who were trying to bravado their way through a mission despite them missing a kidney.

“Okay,” Nick said, “okay you might be right.”

Kelly glanced at Nick sharply at that. Nick was clearly hurt worse than even Kelly realised if he has acquiesced so readily.

They found a natural depression between two shallow dunes and Kelly quickly dug in deeper so that they were further away from prying eyes.

“You going to check it?” Nick said after a few minutes silence.

“Can't. Your boot is doing a far better job at keeping your ankle set than I would if I tried to splint it.” Kelly said in a rush, looking almost apologetic.

“Do the brass know my boot's a better medic than you?”

“Fuck off, Nicko.” Kelly replied fondly.

Nick grinned at his friend, but winced when he shifted to get more comfortable.

“How much pain are you in?” Kelly asked, then held his hand up to stop Nick's response when he saw him open his mouth, “and know that if you lie to me I'll break your other ankle.”

“Had worse.” Nick said with as much of a smile as he could muster. It wasn't a _lie_ exactly, shot had been worse, marginally.

Kelly pursed his lips together before dramatically rolling his eyes and muttering about 'fucking marines'. 

“I can hear you, Doc.” Nick said, laughing despite himself.

“I stand by it.” Kelly replied, rooting around in his medkit. “Morphine?”

“Not yet.” Nick said. He knew that if the pain got worse he might need it and he didn't want to take it too early, not if it meant he wouldn't be able to have Kelly's six whilst he was floating.

Kelly stared at him for a long moment, trying to assess whether Nick was saying that out of bravado or because he genuinely didn't think he needed it. After a moment, seeing nothing but honesty in his brother's eyes, he changed where he had been digging and pulled out Tylenol instead. It would give him some pain relief but wouldn't make him too loopy. He added a couple of Naproxen to the pile and handed them to Nick.

“These are non-negotiable.” Kelly said when Nick looked at the pills sceptically.

Nick didn't argue, just took them and swallowed them down with the smallest swig he could manage from his canteen. They had to conserve water if they were going to be here all night.

After some time, Nick couldn't deny the effects of the meds. The pain in his ankle had softened to a dull throbbing in time with his heartbeat, but he had started to shiver. The desert at night could be an unforgiving place.

Of course Kelly noticed straight away, shifting around in the small area, fishing out a blanket as well as a sealed packet. He carefully opened it and shook out the blanket, making sure to keep the blue side face down.

He shifted Nick around until he was lying on the Ready Heat disposable blanket. It wouldn't do anything for the wind chill, but it should stop Nick from either getting hypothermia or going into shock lying on the cold ground.

Nick sighed after a moment and chuckled quietly as the heat seeped into his bones. “Why don't we always sleep on these?”

Kelly quietly laughed and then picked up the non-heat blanket and tucked it in around Nick, fussing to make sure it covered as much of him as possible. It was almost fully dark now. They still had at least six hours until morning and they were still in enemy territory.

Nick reached for Kelly after a moment, as he felt Kelly shift and move away.

Kelly moved back, lying down on the ground next to Nick's prone form. 

"You need to sleep." Kelly said into Nick's ear, his mouth barely moving, the sound impossible to hear even across the stillness of the desert.

Nick turned his face and raised an eyebrow at his friend. Despite not being able to see him in the darkness, he knew that Kelly would know what he had done. They were that close.

"No arguments. Corpsman says. I can keep watch." Kelly said again, turning Nick's head with one finger so he could do so.

Nick nodded quickly and tapped Kelly's arm three times. 

Three hours. Kelly could do that. He was nowhere near as exhausted as Nick was.

~~~

Kelly heard the voices before he could barely make out the men encroaching on their position in the pre-dawn light.

His breath caught in his throat before he forced himself to keep breathing normally. It would be just their fucking luck if they survived the night from any manner of physical ailments and then got shot at dawn. 

That would really fucking suck.

Kelly spared a glance out of the corner of his eye at Nick, only to see Nick's green eyes staring back at him. He turned his head and raised his eyebrow, but Nick shook his head. Too many variables, not enough intel. Kelly's stomach tumbled with nerves as they stared at each other, barely moving, barely even breathing until they heard the men move off. 

They eventually heard a transport with yet more men and unconsciously, Kelly felt Nick go for his weapon. Kelly caught Nick's hand and pressed it down, impeding his movement. 

Nick looked at him with a confused expression, but his hand relaxed when he heard the vehicle move off, rapid Farsi echoing on the breeze from the men inside it.

They gave it another half an hour, but when nothing else occurred, they packed up and hauled out towards where their rendezvous had been yesterday, Kelly now taking so much of Nick's weight that they were now going at a quarter of the speed they normally would. 

They'd had to stop multiple times for Nick to rest and, in the end, weighing the pros and cons between being caught out in the open and Nick needing surgery on an ankle that had had too much walking on it, Kelly had shot him with Morphine.

Which of course basically meant that Nick was now waxing lyrical about every little thing that wafted through his brain. Kelly would find it funny if he wasn't starting to get seriously worried. Slowing down wasn't an option, but he was running on zero sleep, Nick was essentially out of commission and they were running out of water.

About a click from where he knew the rendezvous was, Nick fell to his knees and keeled over onto the sand.

“Fuck. Fuck. Nick you fucking fuck I swear to God if you leave me out here and I have to explain to fucking Six why you fucking died I will be seriously fucking pissed off.”

“Your eyes are pretty when you're angry.” Nick said in a dreamy voice.

Kelly smiled down at his friend, glad that he was conscious, only to start up the swearing once again when Nick's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he passed out.

He had managed to get some saline into Nick by the time that Ty and Owen turned up, and God they were probably the most beautiful thing Kelly had ever seen. He wasn't sure what he thought about that.

Ty had the sense to look chastised when he'd asked Kelly if Nick was okay and Kelly had settled him with a _look_.

They rolled Nick onto another blanket, this one specifically designed to be used as a litter if needed. 

Ty and Owen took off as fast as possible and it was only the sheer grit and determination Kelly had for getting Nick back safely that allowed him to keep pace.

By the time they'd got back to camp, Nick was at least conscious, which had the three other men breathing far easier. Kelly could fall apart in a minute, he had a job to do for the moment.

“Abbott and O'Flaherty spent the night huddling in the desert? When's the wedding again?” Sanchez called from across the camp.

“Blow me, Easy!” Nick replied in a weak, but still strong, voice.

“Since you asked so nicely, Irish...” Sanchez said, standing up.

“Guys. _Focus_. Med bay.” Kelly said, employing the tone of a weary mother and ushering them quicker in that general direction.

Nick was _probably_ okay, but he didn't want to take any chances. He was going to kill them all one of these days; and he'd be damned if anything else would.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and visit the [Cut & Run Discord Server](https://discord.gg/vvy6c76) and join us as we discuss/scream about this awesome series.


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